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The dark, cold waters of the earth’s largest
habitat, the deep sea, seem like a hostile
environment. The deep sea begins 200
metres below sea level, extends down to
11 kilometres and is never warmer than
4 degrees Celsius. An expedition by the
German research vessel Polarstern off the
coast of West Africa discovered that even
at a depth of 5,000 metres the ocean is
teeming with life. On board was trained
biologist and full-time professional wildlife
photographer Solvin Zankl. He returned
from the expedition with fascinating photos
of living organisms which have only ever
been seen by a few people, and some of
which have not been photographed before.
Deep-sea expedition
Take the one millimetre long male copepod
of the genus Sapphirina, for example.
These microorganisms have flabby bodies
that hold a lot of water, and protect them
from being crushed by the enormous water
pressure. Their iridescent appearance
is the result of their layered chitinous
exoskeleton. Copepods account for at
least 60% of the entire marine plankton
biomass.
Very little deep sea research has been
conducted up to now. Scientists believe
that this realm of darkness is home to
at least one million as yet undiscovered
species.
2.2016
trends in automation
Panorama
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